A prior art paper plate dispenser is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,662, issued June 5, 1990. Related patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,112, issued Oct. 17, 1989, and 4,653,342, issued Feb. 17, 1987, and 4,643,334, issued Feb. 17, 1987 and 4,580,696, issued Apr. 8, 1986, and 4,550,856, issued Nov. 5, 1985, and 4,094,443, issued June 13, 1978, and 3,930,698, issued Jan. 6, 1976, and 3,338,646, issued Aug. 29, 1967, and 2,496,812, issued Feb. 7, 1950, and 2,358,709, issued Sept. 19, 1944, and 2,115,923, issued May 3, 1938, and 1,762,948, issued June 10, 1930.
The prior art paper plate dispenser disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,662 includes a two-piece container for flexible plates having a cylindrical bottom aperture, a peripheral flange formed about a substantial portion of the bottom aperture to provide a guide surface for sliding selected bottom ones of the plates radially outward from the container, and at least one tab formed at the bottom aperture disposed between opposite ends of the flange, wherein bottom ones of the flexible plates can be manually grasped adjacent the tab and be warped and be slid radially outward along a guide surface of the peripheral flange.
One problem with the prior art dispenser is that the dispenser requires an adjacent radial clearance or space for sliding the plates radially outward parallel to its mounting surface. Another problem is that it is relatively difficult to affix the dispenser to a mounting surface and then to assemble the two-piece dispenser.